Advancing Guide
Don’t just forge ahead. Advancing to a new age is worthy of celebration — but first, preparation. Why rush only to struggle with upgrading buildings, or spending weeks putting forge points into your technology tree, while your great buildings never level? Why let your pilfering neighbors rack in points by slaughtering your Late Middle Age colony, either because it continues to defend itself with spear fighters or uses current age troops sans any decent attack or defense bonuses? You get the point. By slowing down and stocking up for your next age with the appropriate amount of coins, supplies, goods and forge points -- and troop bonuses -- you will progress much more efficiently. You'll be able to quickly select only the most efficient buildings, while leveling great buildings and keeping up your attack and defense capabilities. First off, a prepared advance starts with completing the forge point requirements on your next tech tree's first layer. Don't unlock any of the research, just add the forge points to the available depositories. If you give the required resources to unlock any of the next age's research, you will immediately advance. So don't do that, yet. There are a couple of opportune times to advance. Any given week, it's best to advance the day a guild expedition starts, so you'll have an entire week to fight the previous era's troops, as you upgrade your military. Another opportunity rests with seasonal events, where buildings are collected as rewards. If you advance the day before a long winter event, you will get your new age's buildings as prizes, regardless of your tech tree completion. If you advance after it starts, you'll keep getting your previous age's stuff... which sucks. Next, look over your inventory. You're going to need a lot of coins and supplies for research and construction. You can build and sell old building in your inventory to reclaim some resources -- don't delete them; build and sell them. Also, don't set 15-minute and 1-hour collection times if you're not collecting that often. While the 4- and 8-hour productions seem less efficient, those payouts are more easily boosted by great building bonuses, and neighbors and guild mates motivating them. You're going to need a lot of forge point packs, too. It's paramount to this strategy to keep them stored in your inventory. Resist every urge to spend them, unless doing so will get you more. Sometimes, a timely addition to a neighbor or guild mate's great building is the difference between getting a 10-point pack prize versus a 40-point pack. You can get them by running through repeatable missions, or trading with guild mates and neighbors who are leveling their buildings -- stick to the same buildings until they're leveled, and only an amount of buildings that's reasonable for your daily point production. If you're contributing to 20 buildings, but producing just 30 points per day, you're unlikely to earn many packs as prizes. You're simply being a philanthropist. Forge point packs are also obtained by completing expedition encounters. With a Temple of Relics, your expedition may lead you to a golden relic that dumps 100 points in your meter, which you could use for great building swaps, or to advance. Don't forget: For preparation's sake, it's best to control provinces with deposits for your next era, prior to advancing. Below are the resources and troop strengths needed to advance. The coin and supply requirements below do not budget for constructing buildings, so you will need much more, especially for great buildings, and replacing production and residential buildings. The attack and defense bonuses below will keep your forces winning battles for provinces, as well as fighting on level 3 in guild expeditions, so you only negotiate when in a rush, or suffering serious troop loses. Iron Age 8,050 coins and 13,100 supplies for fully completed tech tree research; 48 stone, 68 wine, 39 Dye, 60 lumber, 36 marble, 3 limestone, 4 ebony, 11 cloth, 13 iron and 16 jewelry; 256 forge points; and 24-percent attack and defense bonuses. Early Middle Age 31,500 coins and 63,250 supplies for fully completed tech tree research; 34 lumber, 22 marble, 61 stone, 35 wine, 46 dye, 70 limestone, 63 ebony, 77 cloth, 82 iron, 90 jewelry, 4 granite, 14 alabaster, 20 honey, 23 copper, 30 gold; 505 forge points; and 39-percent attack and defense bonuses. High Middle Age 53,500 coins and 194,000 supplies for fully completed tech tree research; 79 lumber, 94 marble, 66 stone, 71 wine, 90 dye, 28 limestone, 42 ebony, 30 cloth, 47 iron, 10 jewelry, 61 granite, 20 alabaster, 30 honey, 20 copper, 41 gold, 4 rope, 11 salt, 34 dried herbs, 40 brick, 50 glass; 733 forge points; and 48-percent attack and defense bonuses. Late Middle Age 155,000 coins and 427,500 supplies for fully completed tech tree research; 150 limestone, 140 ebony, 140 cloth, 100 iron, 140 jewelry, 140 granite, 200 alabaster, 140 honey, 150 copper, 110 gold, 120 rope, 100 salt, 80 dried herbs, 60 brick, 80 glass; 50 gunpowder, 40 silk, 50 brass, 70 talc powder, 80 basalt; 1,072 forge points; and 54-percent attack and defense bonuses. Colonial Age 115,337 coins, 421,870 supplies for fully completed tech tree research; 150 granite, 120 alabaster, 160 honey, 160 copper, 170 gold, 110 rope, 100 salt, 110 dried herbs, 100 brick, 130 glass; 150 gunpowder, 150 silk, 60 brass, 140 talc powder, 160 basalt; 20 tar, 40 coffee, 60 porcelain, 80 paper, 80 wire; 1,000 forge points; and 69-percent attack and defense bonuses. Industrial Age 303,000 coins, 1,495,000 supplies for fully completed tech tree research; 190 rope, 210 salt, 190 dried herbs, 220 brick, 160 glass; 210 gunpowder, 210 silk, 260 brass, 130 talc powder, 170 basalt; 150 tar, 170 coffee, 160 porcelain, 120 paper, 160 wire; 100 textiles, 105 coke, 160 rubber, 95 fertilizer, 110 whale oil; 1,140 forge points; and 81-percent attack and defense bonuses.